Americas

Members of the USW and supporters protested the Mexican government’s repression of workers’ rights during a May 2010 visit to the nation’s capitol by Mexico’s president.

A legacy of political instability, armed conflicts and flagrant human rights violations has impoverished workers in many Latin American and Caribbean countries. In Colombia, where year after year, the murder rate of trade unionists is the worst in the world, workers literally risk their lives to seek workplace fairness through trade unions. Trade unionists also are under attack in Central America and Mexico.

Recent Reports

Trade, Violence and Migration: The Broken Promises to Honduran WorkersIn October 2014, the delegation led by AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre arrived in Honduras to meet with workers, labor, faith and community partners as well as government officials and learn about the impact of U.S. trade and immigration policies on Honduran workers and their families. The Northern Triangle as a whole—the section of the Central American isthmus that includes Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador—is challenged by widespread labor and human rights violations, crime, violence and corruption. Powerful gangs threaten, intimidate and kill families. The delegation decided to travel to Honduras because it shares many of the same problems of its neighboring countries, but it stands apart in its severity. Honduras is currently the murder capital of the world and has in past years been shaken by political instability, institutional corruption and repression. The children of Honduras and their families are fleeing their communities at a higher rate than in any other country in Central America—more than 18,000 unaccompanied Honduran children arrived in the United States in FY 2014.
Read the full report.

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AFL-CIO request to submit written views on Guatemala’s failure to effectively enforce its labor laws (
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Cali, Colombia, has never been an easy place to be a trade unionist. As the trade agreement between Colombia and the United States turns three years old, union leaders there are still being shot at by death squads who see organized workers as a dangerous, radical element that must be eliminated. Just in the past week, seven unionists were shot at by masked gunmen in Cali.